Welcome to PRD, a project that researches changing patterns of political participation and democratic representation. At a challenging time for democracies worldwide, PRD aims to contribute new knowledge to strengthen the connection between participation and representation.
Introducing PRD
PRD - Participation and Representation in the Digital Age is a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant Project. Our project researches the ways in which people engage in both electoral and nonelectoral political acts. This includes exploring the motivations behind these acts, and examining people's individual-level repertoires of participation. We are dedicated to shedding light on how well represented different types of political participators are, and our findings contribute to a better understanding of political behavior and democratic representation.
Our Vision
In recent decades, there have been two conflicting global trends in political participation in democratic societies. The first is reduced voter turnout, especially among lower-status groups. The second is increased nonelectoral political participation, especially among higher-status groups. Our vision is to investigate how these trends in political participation affect democratic representation. The project's research integrates new approaches for investigating the links between individuals’ participation repertoires and representational outcomes. PRD analyzes cross-national survey data to identify participation repertoires, explores the connections between the participation repertoires and democratic representation, and conducts experimental studies and field experiments to identify interventions for more equal representational outcomes in the future.
Our Research
PRD’s research work packages (WPs) employ a multi-method approach: “Political acts and political participators” (WP1) analyzes cross-national and longitudinal survey data to advance methodological innovations for identifying participation repertoires. “Participation-representation connection” (WP2) investigates the connections between the political acts and political participators analyzed in WP1 and representational outcomes, and integrates these findings with qualitative fieldwork with activists who focus on unequal representation. Finally, “Mobilizing and organizing low-status groups” (WP3) conducts novel experimental studies to identify interventions with the potential to produce more equal representational outcomes in the future. By combining an original theoretical framework and methodological innovations, PRD conducts a uniquely comprehensive empirical investigation of participation repertoires, with a focus on mechanisms that can reduce longstanding inequalities in participation and representation.
